Chapter 2 - The Lie Written in BloodThe silence after Judd's words was worse than the gunfire.
Sadie could hear the fire.
She could hear the wind.
She could hear Gideon's breathing.
But the only thing she could see was that piece of paper in Judd's hand.
My writing.
It couldn't be.
It couldn't.
Gideon looked at her.
“Sadie.”
His voice was dangerously calm.
“What is that?”
“I don't know.”
Judd chuckled.
“Of course she doesn't.”
One of the armed men behind him raised his gun.
Judd held out a hand.
“Not yet.”
His gaze never left Sadie.
“She was always very good at pretending.”
Gideon didn't move.
“Put the paper down.”
Judd smiled.
“You want the truth?”
“I want you out of my cabin.”
“This isn't your cabin.”
Gideon stepped forward.
“It is now.”
Judd's men shifted their rifles.
Then Sadie saw something.
A red line beneath Gideon's shirt.
Blood.
His shoulder was bleeding badly.
“Gideon.”
He ignored her.
Judd noticed.
“Ah.”
His smile widened.
“You care about him already.”
Gideon's expression darkened.
Judd tossed the paper onto the table.
“There.”
“Read it.”
Gideon picked it up.
Sadie watched his eyes move across the page.
Then stop.
His jaw clenched.
“What does it say?”
He looked at her.
“You tell me.”
Sadie stood on trembling legs.
“I've never seen that.”
Judd laughed.
“You signed it.”
“No.”
“You wrote that Harlan had stolen explosives from Black Hollow.”
Sadie stared.
“That’s a lie.”
“You also wrote that you warned Judd.”
“I never did.”
“You wrote that Harlan intended to destroy the mine.”
“That isn't my handwriting.”
Gideon looked down at the paper.
Sadie stepped toward him.
“Look at it.”
He did.
“Compare it.”
“To what?”
Sadie pointed toward the desk.
“Your cabin journal.”
Gideon stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because I wrote my name in it this morning.”
Judd's smile disappeared.
That tiny reaction frightened Sadie more than anything.
Gideon understood.
He opened the journal.
There was Sadie's name on the inside cover.
Same handwriting.
But different.
He placed the paper beside it.
Gideon looked at both.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then he looked at Judd.
“You forged it.”
Judd's face hardened.
“Did I?”
“You made one mistake.”
“What?”
“You made the S too narrow.”
Sadie blinked.
She had never noticed that.
Judd's eyes turned cold.
“Looks like you're smarter than you seem.”
Gideon lifted his rifle.
“Leave.”
Judd's men raised their guns.
Judd smiled.
“This isn't over.”
“No.”
Gideon's voice was flat.
“It isn't.”
Judd backed toward the door.
Then he looked at Sadie.
“You should have stayed in the barn.”
Sadie stared at him.
“You're afraid.”
Judd laughed.
“Of what?”
“Of what I found.”
His smile vanished.
That was all Sadie needed.
She knew she had struck the right nerve.
Judd looked at Gideon.
“You don't know what she is.”
“Neither do you.”
Judd stepped into the snow.
“Ask her what happened to the man who helped her open that ledger.”
The door slammed.
Gideon stayed still.
Then he lowered the rifle.
Sadie exhaled.
“He was lying.”
“I know.”
“He's trying to turn you against me.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
Gideon pointed to the blood on his shoulder.
“Because I'm about to pass out.”
Sadie rushed forward.
“Sit down.”
“I thought you weren't going to touch me.”
“I'm allowed to touch you when you're bleeding.”
“Convenient.”
“Sit.”
He sat.
Sadie tore a strip from the hem of the blanket.
She cleaned the wound while Gideon gritted his teeth.
“You're lucky,” she said.
“Never been called that.”
“The bullet went through.”
“That's what I was hoping.”
“You hoped?”
“I've had worse.”
She tied the bandage.
Gideon looked at her.
“You’re not a rancher's wife.”
Sadie frowned.
“What?”
“You handle a wound like you've done it before.”
“My father taught me.”
“Your father served in the army?”
“No.”
Gideon waited.
Sadie looked away.
“My mother did.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“She was a nurse.”
“That explains it.”
Sadie stared into the fire.
“He used to say I was too soft.”
“Your husband?”
“My father.”
Gideon studied her.
“Your father was wrong.”
She looked at him.
“You don't know me.”
“I know you survived two days chained to a post.”
His voice softened.
“That isn't softness.”
Sadie looked down.
The cuff around her wrist had swollen skin beneath it.
Gideon noticed.
“We're removing it now.”
He reached for his tools.
This time, Sadie didn't say no.
He sat close.
Carefully.
Slowly.
The lock resisted.
Then clicked.
The cuff fell away.
Sadie stared at her bare wrist.
For several seconds she simply breathed.
Free.
Gideon placed the metal on the floor.
“Done.”
Sadie touched the scar around her wrist.
“Thank you.”
He nodded.
Then his eyes caught something on the inside of her forearm.
A bruise.
Not from the cuff.
A circular mark.
Almost like a burn.
Gideon's expression changed.
“Who did that?”
Sadie looked at it.
“I don't know.”
“You don't remember?”
“No.”
Gideon touched the edge of the mark.
“You weren't unconscious the whole time.”
“No.”
“Someone pressed something against your arm.”
“I said I don't know.”
He stared at it.
Then at her.
“That's a brand.”
Sadie's stomach twisted.
“A brand?”
“Mountain crews used them to mark equipment.”
“I’m not equipment.”
“I know.”
The cabin seemed colder.
Gideon stood.
“Judd isn't the only person involved.”
“Who else?”
“I don't know.”
A gunshot cracked in the distance.
They both froze.
Then another.
Gideon grabbed the rifle.
“They're coming back.”
Sadie looked toward the window.
“How many?”
Gideon listened.
“One.”
“Only one?”
“No.”
He stepped toward the door.
“That's the problem.”
A third shot echoed through the mountains.
Then a fourth.
Gideon looked at Sadie.
“Get your coat.”
“Where are we going?”
“Underground.”
She stared at him.
“What?”
“The cabin has a tunnel.”
“To where?”
Gideon opened a trapdoor beneath the rug.
Darkness waited below.
“A place Judd doesn't know about.”
Sadie looked at the tunnel.
Then at Gideon.
“How do you know?”
His face became unreadable.
“Because I built it.”
He started down.
Sadie followed.
But before she disappeared beneath the floor, she glanced back at the table.
Judd's forged letter was still there.
And underneath it, half hidden by the paper, Sadie saw something she hadn't noticed before.
A date.
Eight years ago.
The same date Harlan Cole supposedly died.
May you like
And beneath the date were four words.
TRANSFERRED TO NORTH RIDGE.
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